Discussion of all social, political and cultural aspects of the American Civil War battles fought in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania.
Antebellum to modern day perspective of the material culture effects of these engagements, both military and civilian. From time to time your blog host will examine other Civil War sites such as Manassas, Gettysburg, and Petersburg.
All original material copyright 2016 by John F. Cummings III

Battlefield Guide Services

Friday, October 12, 2012

Next month will mark the one year anniversary since I first began posting my findings regarding the most elusive of photographs taken at Gettysburg. In May of 2011, Scott Hartwig, the supervisory historian with the Gettysburg National Military Park, first brought public attention to this location on the Park's Blog. Personally, I was impressed with his presentation and in-depth research. Scott focused on one of two images looking north east, the "Gibson" stereo view. Curious, I looked at the somewhat broader view taken by Timothy O'Sullivan, and immediately made note that it revealed, in the upper right corner, the Thompson House, known also more famously as "Lee's Headquarters." That November, I took a trip to Gettysburg for the Remembrance Day Commemoration, and set aside some time to visit Scott's site and provide additional support by photographing a modern view that included the house. I quickly saw that Scott's camera location was simply too far away to be precise to the 1863 images, however, he was certainly looking at the correct overall features. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Garry Adelman had challenged Scott's findings that had been published in the October 2011 issue of Civil War Times Magazine. Adelman's challenge appeared as a letter to the editor in the same magazine's December issue, and declared the location "unsolved" and still open for discovery.

Upon returning home with my findings in November, I began what would be my first of a series of posts that sought to add further support to the work of Scott Hartwig. My assertion that the Thompson House was visible, and thus supported Scott's work, was quickly shot down by Mr. Adelman, and a form letter of sorts made its way around Civil War web addresses, titled

"GARRY ADELMAN’S PLEA FOR PATIENCE WITH ALL THINGS HARVEST OF DEATH".

This began my debate with Garry that eventually inspired his creating a thirteen episode presentation on the Gettysburg Daily Blog, wherein Garry and his associate Tim Smith took to task numerous people's theories as to the now notorious "Harvest of Death" location. The series wrapped up with several installments devoted to refuting Mr. Hartwig's and my examinations. I continued my research, looking further into details the images held, and all the while, with admitted misturns along the way, I made continued posts to this blog site, adding details that added up to supporting the location as the actual site. My one problem though continued to be the distance that I live from Gettysburg, requiring at least six hours of travel time in a day for each visit and no luxury of affording overnight accommodations. Thus I would bring my work home each time and see how the day's efforts fit. Gradually, over several return visits, I made my way along the landscape and arrived at the location that brought all the pieces together, although it is approximately 123 yards west of my initial, heavy concentration of study. It is also, as I had detected, nearly 190 yards closer to the Chambersburg Road than Scott Hartwig's estimation. However, this is what it takes to fine tune something that has been plagued from the outset by 1863 images that are far from sharp in detail, but still full of revealing information.

Thus I present what will rest as the final, and correct, installment of my blog posting regarding these photographs. The challenge of having to adjust by a foot or yard, left or right, up or down or tilted, and in any direction is unnecessary and unwelcome, as this posting presents the final clue that makes this the true location, on the battlefield of July 1, 1863, and provides the source of Alexander Gardner's inclusion of General John Reynolds in the title, "Field Where General Reynolds Fell". The monument to this incident stands at a short 100 yards or so to the west of where these bodies had fallen.

The final clue rests in the wooded horizon line in both O'Sullivan's and Gibson's images:

"The Field Where General Reynolds Fell", from O'Sullivan's stereo negative, similar

to the full plate version that appears in the 1866, Photographic Sketch Book of the War.

The camera is looking at approximately 64 degrees NE on center. The Thompson House

is at upper right. The Chambersburg Pike runs, barely perceptible, along the center of the rise.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Despite appearances, further scrutiny has shown that this image from Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, Plate 36, is not an enlarged print of the left half of the stereo negative as seen below it. The error, stated here in the now edited, prior post, was heavily based on the assumption that Gardner and crew would have had to actually change out cameras to produce each format. What is now more clear is that Gardner's "field camera" had to have been fitted with an interchangeable lens board that could switch from the duel stereo lenses, to the single lens for a full plate image on 8" X 10" in contrast to the 4" X 10" of the stereo negatives. This interchangeable camera would have also required a removable "septum" that divided the images when set up for use with stereo lenses. Most stereo cameras of the mid 19th century were manufactured as dedicated stereo format.

By easily switching out the lens board at the front of the camera, the relative framing of the subject matter would have remained the same, only this time with a centered optical axis that would rest between the duel axes of the stereo lens pair. The resultant images are deceptively similar, and in most cases examined, have some very slight changes in the placement of some objects, primarily in the distance, outside of the field of focus. The clincher in the two images below rests in the two trees in the upper right. This does not preclude that there were no enlargements made from stereo negative in other cases, but here, as believed and stated before, it is not the case.

This does not alter the conclusions of other postings regarding this series of Gardner images, particularly the material presented with the "Harvest of Death" image and its obvious doctoring of the upper third of the image, as presented in the prior post as well.

The photograph below, taken in May 1864 in Fredericksburg, shows what appears to be a lens board for one of the interchangeable cameras, in the lower right foreground.

To illustrate an interchangeable lens board camera, I am providing a link to another website that shows a reproduction wet plate camera based on one manufactured in the 1870s, after the Civil War. It does however demonstrate a similar arrangement to what Gardner and crew would have had to use for the process of taking both stereo and full plate images from a fixed position without producing easily discernable changes in the stationary subject matter of the photographs.

Updated. See additional material at end of post. On November 16, 2007, USA Today ran a front page article proclaiming that a m...

My Second Book, published 2011

Click to order direct from publisher's link.

My First Book, published 2002

click to view publisher's page

The Angel of Marye's Heights

A wonderful documentary I am proud to have been a part of. Click for ordering and more information.

Civil War 360

Another video production I am proud to have been a part of. Click here for ordering and more information.

Why I am here:

I am the owner of Spotsylvania Commemorative. I conduct historical research and provide battlefield guide services. Living on the Spotsylvania battlefield has its advantages. The most important to me is that I am right on the ground that played an important but usually disregarded role in the campaign. The actions of May 14, 1864 resulted in the near capture of General George Gordon Meade while it also helped to anchor a new Federal left wing. Known as the battle of Myer's Hill, it focused on what was until recently a wooded summit, one half mile southeast from my driveway. There remains close to 75 acres of land which includes the Myer house site. In 1864 it was a 400 acre farm. I have been trying for more than ten years to influence the preservation of this property. A few years ago some of the cultural resources on the site were damaged during deforesting, including what was a beautifully preserved trenchline built by the Federal 6th Corps. Seeing an imminent threat to the house site, I personally negotiated with the logging company and minimized the damage, while the surrounding acres were clear cut. I have come to know the story of John Henry Myer and his family and the struggle for the farm site they called home. Myer, conscripted into the 40th VA Infantry, watched helpless from the Confederate trenches on May 15, 1864 as his home was destroyed by the Union occupants. It had been intended as a sanctuary from the ravages of war. Their story, and those of countless others, is my inspiration.